Evidence that the Engagement of the Workforce is Not Working

For years Gallup Inc’s Global surveys have shown that the engagement of the workforce, globally, is on average less than 30% every year.

One can pontificate about the quality of workers, about the poor educational systems, about generational differences, about the lack of state support, about the poor economy, about the lack of skilled workers and many other things to explain the situation.

But the Corporate Rebels claim the real reason is because of the way we work is broken.

Frustration with the corporate world caused them in 2016 to leave their jobs. They were convinced that the way the corporate world is organized is completely outdated and broken. They set out to travel the globe to visit the world’s most inspiring organizations. Today their blog is read in more than 100 countries and they have featured in the NY Times, Forbes, HuffPost, Guardia, and the BBC.

Gallup’s 2017 “State of the Workplace” revealed how bad things are. Globally (from 155 countries) only 15% of one’s colleagues are engaged. To be engaged to Gallup means those colleagues who are “highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and their workplace. They are psychological ‘owners’. They drive performance and innovation and move the organization forward”. Their findings showed that 67% of the workforce is not engaged and 18% are actively disengaged.

The Corporate Rebels are convinced that “The way we work makes people sick. Not just figuratively – but also literally”.

A recent Deloitte research report surveyed 7,000 business and HR leaders in more than 130 countries. They were asked to name the biggest worries and challenges they face in their organizations today. The result of the research showed the problems were:

1. Organizational Design – 92%
2. Leadership – 89%
3. Culture – 86%
4. Engagement – 85%

Based on 100 plus workplace visits around the world the Corporate Rebels have identified what the most inspiring organizations do to counter the problem of the workforce lack of engagement. They established 8 trends being used to address the situation:

1. Purpose and Values
2. Network of Teams
3. Supportive leadership
4. Experiment and adapt (Innovation)
5. Freedom and Trust
6. Distributed Authority
7. Radical Transparency
8. Talents and Mastery

Read the attached article authored by the Corporate Rebels that deals with the above content and hark to their call for action.

VJB